February

february

Finding home a world away

Alvernia attracts students from across the nation and around the world, but none have traveled further than Ryan Perry ’14. That’s because Perry, who hails from the land down under, ventured more than 8,000 miles from Canberra, Australia, to study criminal justice at the Reading, Pa., campus.

“Twenty-three years ago, my parents left New Jersey so my dad could work for six months at the Australian Institute of Sport as a sport psychologist; they fell in love with the place and never left,” Perry says. As a result, Perry was born there and spent the first 18 years of his life as an Australian citizen.

But when it came time for college, Perry was ready for something new.

“Growing up, I always wanted to attend college in the United States,” he says. “From what I heard and saw in the movies, going to college in the United States was totally different from the college experience in Australia. In Australia, you drive to class and only attend classes in your major. You don’t stay on campus, and there is no real social scene.” He wanted more, so Perry decided to look for schools across the Pacific.